Are you shy about expressing your feelings in public sometimes? Today I simply had to express how I really felt…
Sometimes my right foot hurts really badly.
On Sunday of this week, while waiting for my husband to return home, I had to make space for his final delivery from the house that we’re selling. Even though I had three people helping me, I ended up walking over 10 miles carrying boxes and other heavy objects.
My hard work did not make my foot happy. For the past two nights, the pain in my right foot had kept me awake much of the night. Several times I got up to try to walk around and stretch out my feet, but this did not help as it had in the past.
Finding help
So today I visited Dan, who has a wonderful talent. He truly understands foot problems and can make custom orthotics while the customer waits.
Dan asked me to show him the problems with my feet, so I did.
In a great deal of pain and not shy, I took my shoes and socks off in the store with other customers and employees walking around. Even though my feet looked like those of Shrek or a Halloween monster. I have only four toes on each foot, and both feet appear grossly misshapen, In addition to these problems, the fourth toe on my right foot looks like a red, swollen triangle instead of a normal toe.
Dan looked at my feet and sympathetically said that they had been through a lot. After gently examining my feet, he described the type of custom orthotic my feet need. Then he used my feet to mold the beds of my new orthotics and went downstairs to finish making them. He took my shoes with him to make sure the insoles fit properly.
Sitting shoeless in public with my monster feet, I sat and waited for 45 minutes while he went to his basement workroom where he ground down, glued, heated, and reheated my new orthotics. I could hear him grinding and wondered if these orthotics would help me at all.
Then Dan quietly snuck up behind me and said in a very kind voice, “Please try your shoes now.”
Hoping but not expecting they would make a difference, I did what he had asked.
Gratitude!
I walked around Dan’s store twice and realized that his orthotics were the magic wand I had been looking for to help my right foot.
Still not shy, I jumped up and down excitedly as if I were still a child in front of him and the other employees and customers. Then I hugged him.
Dan told me that my exuberant happiness and the hug I shared with him had made his whole month. He loves to know that he has truly helped someone. We were both smiling as I paid him for the orthotics.
On the way home in the car, I told my husband I had hugged another man. He just laughed and said, “You certainly are not shy about saying thank you, are you?”
…
Has anyone ever done something to help you? Don’t be shy about expressing your gratitude. It is okay to be childlike in your expression of gratitude. More importantly, it is okay to let someone know with a hug how much you appreciate what someone has done for you!
Let the encouraging words in these near a river posts help you
soar like an eagle above life’s storms.
